Sixty four percent of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30.
I was thinking about that stat as the results for the General Elections started pouring in – and then stopped for six hours and then restarted.
Sixty four percent.
Which, of course, means that a clear majority of Pakistan’s population never saw Imran Khan the cricketer. Imran-the-politician has been a regular presence in most Pakistani (with cable connections) lives over the past fifteen years, and from his Electoral Symbol to his monologues and speeches, cricket terminology has been ever-present. Fixing, umpires, falling wickets, bouncers et al have become part of the Pakistani political lexicon – both from him and his opponents, safe in the knowledge that any cricket related analogy will reach across their audience, regardless of class, creed or age. After all, it’s one of the few things that truly unites Pakistan. So, it was not surprising when the day after the election one major newspaper went with the headline: Man of the Match.
As he has removed himself from the cricket world – with less important things in his sights like the national assembly and the country’s premiership – he has become a myth in Pakistan. A myth that downplayed Imran the cricketer for Imran the captain. Of course, it helped that such a narrative was better for his post retirement life, if not for his legacy. It was also affected by the fact that so many of the commentators, analysts and talking heads had been from the 90s generation – who revered him, perhaps without ever understanding him, and had grown up under him. But the result of all this was that the greatest cricketer in Pakistan’s history was left to be a crutch in Ramiz Raja’s reductive anecdotes.
So, as he prepares to lead Pakistan for the first time in twenty-six years perhaps it’s time to be reminded of the player he was.
Imran was not the wunderkind that so many of his proteges were. A medium pacer who could bat a bit he did not take a Test five-fer until the age of 24. Six years and eight Tests into his career his bowling average was north of 40 and he had just one fifty in 13 innings.
What happened in those six years has been repeated often – in TV shows, in commentary and even on political dais. Inspired by his West Indian and Australian contemporaries he was determined to turn himself from a medium pacer into a fast bowler; something he was able to achieve despite little encouragement from his teammates at the time he says. In 1979 Dr Frank Pyke of the University of Western Australia measured the fastest bowlers of that era in a study. Imran clocked in at 140kph, behind only Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, and ahead of the likes of Andy Roberts, Dennis Lillee and Garth Le Roux.
But of course, pace wasn’t his foremost weapon. Learning from his fellow Lahori, Sarfraz Nawaz, he became the premier exponent of reverse swing in his era. Thus, from his first five-fer in 1977 until suffering a career-threatening shin injury in 1983 Imran took 212 wickets at 21.06. Only Ian Botham and Bob Willis took more than him during this period, although both did so at a worse average. Towards the end of this period he was also appointed Pakistan’s captain, where his shadow looms large even three decades later. But that, as I mentioned, has been covered thoroughly enough.
The injury meant that from February 1983 to October 1985 Imran only played two Tests, and although he played more than 20 ODIs, many of those were as a pure batsman, including a 14-match run where he never bowled a ball. But this period, as a pure batsman, allowed him to become the genuine all-rounder that he is now known as. Until February 1983 he had averaged 31.20 in ODIs scoring one fifty in 25 innings and had averaged under 30 as a batsman in Tests. From that point on, though, he was perhaps Pakistan’s third best batsman for the rest of his career. From February 1983 till his retirement he scored nineteen of his twenty 50+ scores in ODI cricket and averaged over 50 with the bat in Tests!
Yet he was not content with his slide from a bowling all-rounder to a batsman who couldn’t bowl anymore; he remained obsessed with fast bowling as he had been in the years when he had transformed himself into one, and as he would be as a captain. Despite the career threatening injury he came back almost better than before. From his return in 1985 till the end of the decade he was again the third highest wicket taker in Test cricket, behind only Malcolm Marshall and Richard Hadlee, taking 130 wickets at 22.50. So, the final result was that despite those two-and-a-half years lost due to injury Imran finished the 80s with 256 wickets at an average of 19.12 – a rate better than anyone else in that decade who took over 25 wickets.
He spent the final years of his career as a batsman and specialist captain, but even then, he was rarely a liability to the team.
As a captain the 1992 World Cup remains his crowning glory in the public imagination, but his greatest work may have been with the Test side that preceded it. From 1985/86 till touring Australia in 1989/90 Pakistan did not lose a single series – an era comprising four years and ten Test series. Even three decades later the only time Pakistan have gone even six series unbeaten has been under Misbah (twice), and never apart from that. No other captain has been able to create a team half as consistent as his late 80s side – a team that drew 3 consecutive series against the almighty West Indies. And the reason he could do that, one of the major reason for his success as a captain was that Imran-the-captain had the services of Imran-the-player to call upon. In those three series against the West Indies he averaged 32 with the bat and an unreal 14.86 with the ball while taking 45 wickets in 9 Tests.
What happened in 1992, like his captaincy, is common knowledge. Although perhaps it’s time to bust the myth often peddled by commentators that he would go up to bat when the team needed him – the final round robin game of the 1992 World Cup was only the 2nd time in his international career that he would bat in the top-3, a role he would then occupy in the semi final and final of that tournament too.
But those are just numbers, Imran – like everyone who would try to emulate him – was about moments. And there was perhaps never a greater collection of moments than the series that initially made him a demi-god.
In 1982 India toured Pakistan for a six-match Test series. It was Imran’s third series as captain – after losing away to England and winning at home versus Australia. Pakistan had been resurrected in the five years prior to that, particularly under Mushtaq Muhammad, but their home was still not a fortress. Imran would go on to never lose a series at home and it started in that 1982/83 season. Pakistan ended up winning 3-nil, the largest margin of victory in a Pakistan-India contest. And for all the centuries that Pakistani batsmen piled up the series was all about Imran.
Imran took 40 wickets, more than any bowler has taken in a non-Ashes series since the 1930s. In a series where no other bowler averaged less than 33 – due to the batting friendly wickets – Imran took his wickets at 13.95 apiece. And he did so while looking like Adonis reborn. That was when he cemented his place in Pakistani folklore, and that – to this day – might be the greatest performance a Pakistani has ever had in a series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2CfvZR2IiY